I spliced these two images together for a discussion on another forum and thought just a few of you here might enjoy them as well as per picking up the threads from previous post. Besides the obvious size difference you can see the relative bill size to head of the Hairy Woodpecker vs. the smaller relative size of the smaller Downy. They are both females lacking the red patch on the back of the head.

Birding 101 class dismissed now-laf!

Thanks Smitty for your comment and Kat for your enjoyable rescued bird story in the cardinal thread.

They really look similar dont they? This is a great comparison, tho. Looking at this I wonder if the eastern Downys are larger than the western races? Because side by side our Downie wps are really quite tiny compared to the Hairys.

Yeabut Ron, that's half the fun isn't it? Maybe they should make feeders with measuring marks.

As far as I know Kat, Downys vary in size all over N.A. by only a cm. ( 17-18 cm /6.75-7 in) However, according to Cornell,

Downy Woodpeckers in the West are darker overall, and they tend to have less white in the wings than birds from eastern North America.

Interestingly Hairy Woodpeckers do vary in size with northern species being larger than southern species...so maybe you have the northern kind and we here deep in the south of Ontario have the smaller southern kind, that make our Downys appear larger-lol! (Don't quote me on that!)

Thanks Kat and it's been a pleasure chatting to you and enjoying your superb photography talent over the years!